Each Sunday, political satirist Culture of Truth tracks the Sunday Morning ‘News’ Shows, particularly Meet the Press. In The Bobblespeak Translations he gives us a laugh-out-loud, perceptive rundown, capturing “What They’re Really Saying When They’re Saying What They’re Saying.” Then, for Virtually Speaking Sundays, CoT crafts a short audio commentary, read aloud by one of several readers and capturing the most most ridiculous moment from Meet the Press. We run them as a bottom-of-the-hour segment during our Sunday shows and then at midnight eastern, I post them as stand-alone audio.

Based on this morning’s Bobblespeak Translation – read the whole post here – tonight’s most ridiculous moment is called “Orthodoxy.” Listen to it here.

I’m Culture of Truth,

The Sunday talk shows began on a humorous note, as George Stephanopoulos played a clip from the movie “Lincoln” showing brave statesmen voting for the 13th Amendment, and said the film quote “shows Congressman Clay Hawkins and others breaking with their party to oppose slavery, inspiration perhaps for our next guests, the new chairs of the No Labels movement, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and former Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman.” unquote

After this unintentionally hilarious introduction, the two No Labels gentlemen of course refused to take a position on anything, except to assure viewers concerned about gun violence that both men quote “have been shooting since we were 5 or 6 years old,” unquote, and that Manchin will introduce a bill with conservative John McCain and liberal Joe Lieberman to put together a commission on mass violence, but that he can also quote “guarantee you there will not be an encroachment on your Second Amendment rights” unquote.

On Meet The Press, Mike Murphy said he was quote “puzzled” by the fact that President Obama’s pick to be Secretary of Defense has been called contentious, and also puzzled that there will also be a fight over Jack Lew, who he admitted is “totally qualified to be treasury secretary” unquote. Mike Murphy and Haley Barbour and Andrea Mitchell all pronounced themselves very confused and troubled as to why the President is nominating people he agrees with and not more conservative Republicans.

Colin Powell assured David Gregory that he is still a Republican, but observed quote that “There’s also a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the Party,” unquote.

Gregory expressed fear that with possible spending cuts, quote “we’re on the brink of creating a hollow force.” and asked “Would a Secretary of Defense Hagel preside over the hollowing out of the Defense Department?”

Powell reminded him that people worried about defense spending cuts quote “are the same people who are saying we have got to cut spending,” unquote

Powell blamed the invasion of Iraq on the CIA, saying quote “We subsequently found out that a lot of that information was not accurate and that is very unfortunate but that’s the way it unfolded,” but then a minute later said the war quote “was the correct thing to do and it was well supported by the intelligence.” unquote

But the most troubling moment came in a a discussion of torture. Gregory asked, quote “To the extent that enhanced interrogation techniques played some role in tracking down the courier which led to bin Laden, and I choose my words carefully, do the ends justify the means?” unquote

Powell argued that the military never committed waterboarding or other acts known to be torture, and said quote “we can’t be a nation that is lawless. We cannot be a nation that simply ignores our obligations to ourselves, our obligations to our constitution, our obligations to our own moral standing in the world.” unquote

Without missing a beat, as if he did not hear a single word Powell said, Gregory responded quote: “But the ends justify the means if you get bin Laden in the end?”

David Gregory usually invites classic centrist guests who will agree with his centrist Beltway views, but even if he has a guest who disagrees with this worldview, he either doesn’t hear it, or his brain simply cannot process any deviation from orthodoxy, especially one as fundamental as the idea that the ends justify the means. And that’s the most ridiculous thing that happened this Sunday.

Schedule for Sunday, March 18 through Thursday, March 22. This week: Gloria Feldt, Avedon Carol, Marcy Wheeler, Susie Madrak, Lambert Strether, Culture of Truth, Stuart Zechman and Jay Ackroydconsider science and politics in light of very current events and public affairs. VS amplifies – mainly – progressive voices: academics, analysts, activists, media critics, scientists, technologists, historians, etc. Comments and questions courtesy of a digitally present studio audience. Which could include you. Through the Second Life platform or IRC (see below). All programs webcast and archived at BlogTalkRadio. And syndicated, too! Available free at iTunes. (Search Virtually Speaking from the iTunes store.) Miss the Intro?

Sunday, Feb 26| 1 pm eastern |10 am pacific |Virtually Speaking Sundays |Marcy Wheeler and David Dayen discuss their most recent work and take some inspiration (?) from the Sunday morning talking heads. Plus this week’s Most Ridiculous Moment. Follow @emptywheel @ddayen @Bobblespeak Listen live and later on BTR

(Note the Tuesday line-up: Spocko and Mike Stark talk about advocacy and activism on the 1st Tuesday of the month; Susie Madrak and a guest consider the impact of current events on working and middle class people on the 2nd Tuesday; Avedon Carol and Correntewire‘s Lambert Strether dissect breaking news and crazy liberalism on the 3rd Tuesday; Dave Johnson maps the forest with a guest on the 4th Tuesday; and Jay Ackroyd and a guest shed light on current insanities of the political and economic kind, on the 5th Tuesday.)

Talk worth listening to. But first, from the top of Jay’s VS video collection: Stuart Zechman considers political campaigns, creating a culture of truth and the strategic and tactical logic of being an undecided voter.

Schedule for Sunday, Nov 20 through Sunday Nov 27. With help from listener commentary and questions, we talk with some of your favorite writers: political analysts, media critics, technologists, historians, etc. Virtually Speaking is public affairs, progressive voices, current events. Comments and questions courtesy of a digitally present studio audience. Which could include you. (see IRC below) All programs webcast and archived at BlogTalkRadio. Available free at iTunes. (Search Virtually Speaking from the iTunes store.) I post weekly, so you can go back to previous posts and link through to the juicy stuff. Miss it the first time? Intro to Virtually Speaking here.

Sunday, Nov 20 | 9 pm eastern | 6 pm pacific |McJoan is back with emptywheel. Joan McCarter and Marcy Wheeler discuss developments of the week, highlighting issues neglected or misrepresented on the Sunday morning broadcasts, drawing from their work of the prior week and the wickedly funny Bobblespeak Translations. Worth tuning in for Culture of Truth on the Most Outrageous Moment from the Sunday morning talk shows. Follow @JoanMcCarter @emptywheel @bobblespeak.Listen live and later on BTR

Thursday, Nov 24 | Dark for Thanksgiving. Jay has been creating videos to go with digby and Culture of Truth’s clips for VS. Enjoy.

Sunday, Nov 27 | 9 pm eastern | 6 pm pacific |Avedon Carol and Jay Ackroyd discuss developments of the week, highlighting issues neglected or misrepresented on the Sunday morning broadcasts, drawing from their work of the prior week and the wickedly funny Bobblespeak Translations. Worth tuning in for Culture of Truth on the Most Outrageous Moment from the Sunday morning talk shows. Follow @Avedon_Says @JayAckroyd @bobblespeak.Listen live and later on BTRRead the rest of this entry →

Schedule for Sunday, Oct 23 through Thursday Oct 27. With help from listener commentary and questions, we talk with some of your favorite writers: political analysts, media critics, technologists, historians, etc. Virtually Speaking is public affairs, progressive voices, current events. Comments and questions courtesy of a digitally present studio audience. Which could include you. (see IRC below) All programs webcast and archived at BlogTalkRadio. Available free at iTunes. See IRC below to participate. I post weekly, so you can go back to previous FDL posts and link through to the juicy stuff.

Note: I’ll add links to this weeks podcasts as soon as the guests are confirmed. Sunday is set.

Sunday, Oct 23 | 9 pm eastern | 6 pm pacific |Marcy Wheeler andStuart Zechman talk about War (Libya), War (Iraq), and War (Iran). And bailouts: Marcy reports that Ben Bernanke is trying to let BoA put its derivative risk in the same place as depositers bank accounts. Bad idea for 99% of us.

Each week, two of our panelists discuss developments of the week, highlighting issues neglected or misrepresented on the Sunday morning broadcasts, often drawing from their work of the prior week and the wickedly funny Bobblespeak Translations Informative, thoughtful and passionate. Follow them @emptywheel @stuart_zechman Listen live and later on BTR

Schedule for Sunday, Oct 9 through Thursday Oct 13. With help from listener commentary and questions, we talk with some of your favorite writers: political analysts, media critics, technologists, historians, etc. Virtually Speaking is public affairs, progressive voices, current events. Comments and questions courtesy of a digitally present studio audience. Which could include you. (see IRC below) All programs webcast and archived at BlogTalkRadio. Available free at iTunes. See IRC below to participate. I post weekly, so you can go back to previous posts and link through to the juicy stuff. Miss it the first time? Read the intro to Virtually Speaking.

Julian is a Washington, D.C.-based writer and journalist covering the intersection of privacy, technology and politics (with occasional forays into pop culture and philosophy.) Currently a Research Fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, he is a contributing editor for Reason magazine and contributes to The Economist’s Democracy in America blog. Follow him @normative Listen live and later on BTR

Tuesday, Oct 11 | 9 pm eastern | 6 pm pacific |Virtually Speaking Susie | Recovering journalist, blogger and working class warriorSusie Madrak chats with organizer Ali Savino about #OccupyDC and #OccupyWallSt Ali has been on the ground in DC for the past 10 days. Follow her @alisavinoListen live and later on BTR

Schedule for Sunday, Sept 25 through Thursday Sept 29. With help from listener commentary and questions, we talk with some of your favorite writers: political analysts, media critics, technologists, historians, etc. Virtually Speaking is public affairs, progressive voices, current events. Comments and questions courtesy of a digitally present studio audience. Which could include you. (see IRC below) All programs webcast and archived at BlogTalkRadio. Available free at iTunes. See IRC below to participate. I post weekly, so you can go back to previous posts and link through to the juicy stuff. Miss it the first time? Read the intro to http://my.firedoglake.com/myfdl/wp-content/themes/myfdl_user/_inc/images/domain_blocked_default.png”../2011/08/2011/07/30/2011/07/23/2011/02/26/introducing-virtually-speaking/” target=”_blank”>Virtually Speaking.

Schedule for Sunday July 31 through Thursday August 4. We talk with – and you comment upon and pose questions for - some of your favorite writers. Virtually Speaking is public affairs, progressive voices, current events. Comments and questions courtesy of a digitally present studio audience. Which could include you. (see IRC below) All programs webcast and archived at BlogTalkRadio. Available free at iTunes. See IRC below to participate. I post weekly, so you can go back to previous posts and link through to the juicy stuff. Miss the intro? Read about Virtually Speaking.

Thursday, Aug 4 | 9 pm eastern | 6 pm pacific |Virtually Speaking with Jay Ackroyd | CW Anderson – Ethnographer and Assistant Professor of Media Culture at CUNY, Anderson’s studies concern changes within local journalistic ecosystems and their bearing on questions of media policy in the digital age. In addition to his own blog, he writes at http://www.niemanlab.org/ They’ll begin with the role of media in the debt limit narrative. Listen live and later on BTR.

Be part of the conversation. Ask questions, chat live with other listeners:
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) allows you to be part of the virtual studio audience (aka chat room), sharing comments and questions while listening to Virtually Speaking live on BlogTalkRadio. Logs are shared with the show hosts and guests.

Use IRC:

1. Connect to http://webchat.freenode.net/
2. Create a log-in name
3. Enter #vspeak into the channel field.
4. NOTE: ‘Relay Rinq’ is not a person but a bridge to IRC chat.
5. Type into the text field along the bottom of the screen.
6. Begin your question with ‘QUESTION’ so it’s easy for the host (and me) to spot.

Show Notes: Listen better, listen smarter with some specific and general information.

• Virtually Speaking Sundays| Can’t bear to watch the Sunday morning talking heads that inspire VS Sundays? Let Culture of Truth boil them down for you with the Bobblespeak Translations. Warning: swallow and put down the hot tea/coffee/cocoa before reading.

Thursday, June 2 | 8 pm eastern | 5 pm pacific |Virtually Speaking A-Z | Stuart Zechmanand Culture of Truth | This week in liberalism…. What is a “Culture of Truth,” and why do we have a political press corps that seems to operate within a “Culture of Untruth.” Listen live on BTR. Beginning Friday, June 3 listen here. See Show Notes below….

Chat Live with Other Listeners:
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) allows you to be part of the virtual studio audience (aka chat room), sharing comments and questions while listening to Virtually Speaking live on BlogTalkRadio. Logs are shared with the show hosts and guests.

How to use IRC:

1. Connect to http://webchat.freenode.net/
2. Create a log-in name
3. Enter #vspeak into the channel field.
4. NOTE: ‘Relay Rinq’ is not a person but a bridge to IRC chat.
5. Type into the text field along the bottom of the screen.
6. Begin your question with ‘QUESTION’ so it’s easy for the host (and me) to spot.

Show Notes: Listen better, listen smarter with some specific and general information.

• Virtually Speaking A-Z | Stuart Zechman notes: “For at least two decades, it seems to me that the US political journalism’s culture of untruth has been the aggregate of a number of key activities in which the press either takes part or is the prime actor:

preserving its function as mediator between the objective world and ordinary people’s consciousness of it”

• Virtually Speaking Sundays| Can’t bear to watch the Sunday morning talking heads that inspire VS Sundays? Let Culture of Truth boil them down for you with the Bobblespeak Translations. Warning: Before reading, swallow and put down the hot tea/coffee/cocoa.

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